As the boss, it’s your responsibility to give your employees feedback on their actions, behaviour and performance. But how can you do it without upsetting them or being judgemental?
It’s vital you feel confident in your abilities to talk to your employees even when things go wrong.
Ignoring problems and hoping they’ll fix themselves is hugely detrimental to your confidence as a leader and your employees as they witness a deterioration in their performance, and morale drops to an all-time low.
Our top 5 tips to give good feedback will help you to stay on top of your team while empowering them to grow and learn to improve performance.
- Don’t make it personal.
This is business; therefore, you must be able to distinguish between personal and professional relationships. Find a suitable place for your discussion and get down to the details right away. Think about how you frame your feedback and the tone of voice you use. Consider the other person; despite your dissatisfaction, they are part of your team, and your job is to help them learn from their mistakes and grow. - Relay only facts.
Don’t get creative; stick to the facts, and discuss specific behaviour or performance examples that require improvement. Explain why you’re having this discussion and use language which conveys the impact their behaviour is having on the team and company overall. Do not judge and try to remain impartial: your goal is to help them understand the problem and how they can improve, not to blame them for things going wrong. - Give the individual time to respond.
Maybe time is of the essence, but it’s important to give your employee the time and the opportunity to respond to your feedback. Perhaps there is a genuine reason their performance hasn’t been strong, or they had no idea that their behaviour impacted anyone. This is your chance to listen and learn how you can help and support your team moving forward. - Focus on change and agree on the next steps.
Once you’ve gathered all the information, you can begin to create a plan for change together. Both parties must be part of this process so that you’re both on board with the following actions. Write down what you’ve agreed on in detail and outline each step and whose responsibility it is to ensure it’s completed. For example, training may be required, so who will initiate the process and deliver it? - Review and offer ongoing support.
Set dates to review your agreed steps and ensure the process is working. Don’t wait until the annual review; decide on shorter incremental timeframes to provide support and mentorship. If things are going well, adapt accordingly; if your employee needs more help to change and improve performance, you will know sooner rather than later.
Giving constructive feedback is often easier said than done. As humans, we are prone to self-criticism, so when someone reinforces our worst fears, we can become defensive and upset.
Think of this time as an opportunity to deliver some good news to your employee: begin with what’s going well and then lead to the issues you are having. Perhaps they can adopt some of the positive skills they have and apply them to improve other areas?
A successful leader has a good grasp of emotional intelligence and will approach a situation using instinct and experience. It’s a skill that can be learnt but takes time and practice but be careful not to use your employees as guinea pigs!
If you’d like to join our next training program on difficult conversations or learn more about dealing with challenging employees, please call us directly on 01279 874676.